1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to hardware for door opening, closing and holding open and in particular to devices for releasably holding open doors.
2. Description of Related Art
Devices for stopping the opening movement of a door hinged to a door frame and/or for holding doors open at a pre-determined position have application in many fields. For example, the automotive industry makes widespread use of such devices as evidenced by U.S. Pat. No. 3,710,417 to Berman, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,050 to Hollanswoth.
Similarly, the cabinet making art frequently relies upon hinges which incorporate some means for stopping and/or holding a cabinet door at a predetermined open position. Examples of this art are to be found in, for example, the disclosure of Tuerk, in U.S. Pat. No. 313,457; Hoffman in U.S. Pat. No. 644,203; or to Gorgon, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,149.
One field to which such devices are particularly applicable is that of hinged appliance doors, for example refrigerator doors and more particularly to refrigerator display units such as those which are found in supermarkets and self-service stores. In this latter field, it is desirable to have a large, typically doubleglazed door stopped and retained at an open position of about 90.degree. so that customers and/or stocking clerks can access the refrigerated contents of the case conveniently for selection for purchases or for stocking. These doors typically are hinged separately and may incorporate an automatic return mechanism separately. Thus, it is desirable to have a mechanism which will retain the door in the open position by a force of a predetermined amount slightly more than that exerted by the closing mechanism, which hold-open force can be easily overcome by the application of a small, external manual closing force.
The present invention is, therefore, the provision of a hold-open for a door hingeably attached to a door frame. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device that is simple, inexpensive to fabricate, and easy to install, but which is smooth and reliable in operation and able to withstand the rigors of hard use.